Underground High-Speed Internet: Testing WiMAX in Seoul Subways

PM gadgets editor Seth Porges visits South Korea and experiences WiMAX high-speed Internet above—and below—ground. When will the U.S. catch up so our smartphones can finally live up to their potential?

SEOUL, South Korea--Here in the U.S., ultrafast "4G" WiMAX mobile networks and their promise of rip-roaring speeds and anywhere accessibility are still the stuff of legend--distant dreams for consumers saddled by the subpar service of most 3G networks. Sure, Clearwire has installed the technology, which combines the speed of Wi-Fi with the accessibility of mobile networks, in test cities such as Baltimore and Atlanta, but few customers have bothered to check out the next-gen networks, and even fewer devices actually support them. So it's something of an eye-opener to get a firsthand look at a location where WiMAX networks are up and running to their full potential: Seoul.

The South Korean capital is blanketed with mobile WiMAX coverage (although the Koreans call it WiBro--short for "wireless broadband"). This means that there is nary a nook or cranny that, given the right hardware, can't handle a device's heaviest broadband demands. And that includes the city's sprawling subway system (surprising, since subways in most American cities are notorious cellular dead zones). In the subway here, WiBro antennas are spread out at 300- to 400-meter intervals in the tunnels and at the stations. It was here that we surfed the Web on WiMAX-enabled laptops (the connection came to an off-the-shelf netbook, courtesy of a WiBro USB modem) while sitting sandwiched between commuters.

Even while underground and moving at subway speeds, the connection was clear and consistent. As I journeyed through the Seoul underground, I took a number of data-speed measurements using speedtest.net, and the readings consistently showed download speeds of above 4 megabits per second, and upload speeds of above 1 Mbps (good luck getting that with your 3G phone, and good luck getting ANY data connection on a subway in the States). This speed was virtually the same whether I was standing on the station platform or riding through the underground. In all, the connection was good enough that it allowed me to watch high-definition YouTube videos at full-screen, without any buffering or obvious frame-rate issues.

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So why does the data network of the Seoul subway matter to us in the U.S.? On one hand, it's not exactly fair to compare Korea's technological infrastructure with ours. The Korean capital and its centralized, tech-obsessed population have long been a testbed for local electronics companies such as Samsung and LG to release cutting-edge products before they reach the rest of the world. On the other hand, it's important to take note of the enormous gap between the technological ceiling of our best smartphones, and what sort of performance the data networks they run on are able to deliver. Apple's iPhone, in particular, is notorious for the choking effect its insatiable appetite for data has had on AT&T's 3G networks. The result is molasses-like Web browsing, choppy mobile streaming video, and the need for carriers to block certain data-heavy applications or force them to operate only on Wi-Fi networks (the Wi-Fi-only Sling Mobile iPhone application comes to mind).

Even though mobile carriers are busy upgrading their networks to meet the demands of smartphones, this problem is simply not going to go away as long as we rely on the current networks. It's going to take the speed and capacity of the 4G WiMAX networks, and its sister technology, LTE, for our top-end phones to deliver the Internet-anywhere experience they are capable of producing. Rumor has it that Apple's waiting for the widespread rollout of these services before releasing a long-awaited Verizon version of the iPhone. But if our 4G networks are going to produce an experience anywhere near as satisfying as my WiMAX-fueled ride through the Seoul subway (and for that, the U.S. networks would have to break down some infrastructure as well as speed barriers), it's going to be one awesome experience.

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